Advent Centering Prayer Retreat
December 10-12 2010, Friday 6 pm until Sunday 3 pmThis three-day Advent Centering Prayer Retreat offers an introduction to Centering Prayer to those unfamiliar to this way of praying and a deeper experience for those who already have an established practice. Advent looks back to Christ's first coming, ahead to his second coming, and to the present moment where Christ is born within us. Our participation in this season prepares us for Christmas and for Christ's birth within us.
Centering Prayer is a way of responding to God as the Blessed Virgin Mary did. When the Archangel Gabriel told her that she would bear a son who would be called Son of the Most High, she asked, "How can this be?" But then she said, "Let it be to me according to your word." In a similar way, in Centering Prayer we are invited to consent to God's word to us as we return to God's presence and action within us and in our daily lives
Presenter:
The Rev. Tom Ward, Episcopal priest for over thirty years, served parishes in
Mississippi and Tennessee and recently retired as the University Chaplain at Sewanee, the
University of the South. Tom now focuses on the contemplative dimension of the gospel, teaching
centering prayer and leading retreats that deepen one’s relationship to the Trinity who dwells
in our hearts as well as in the world around us. He has been practicing Centering Prayer for 19
years and has a special interest in fostering this practice in local congregations. For the
past fifteen years Tom has worked closely with Thomas Keating and Contemplative Outreach Ltd.,
a network which seeks to foster contemplation, and serves as a member of the Advisory Board of
Contemplative Outreach, Ltd.Residential Fee: $275 Deposit: $50